1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a battery module, and more particularly, to a battery module for a vehicle's battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
A secondary battery having good application to various product groups and good electric characteristics such as high energy density is widely applied to not only portable devices but also an electric vehicle (EV) or a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) driven by an electric driving source. The secondary battery has a primary advantage of greatly reducing the use of fossil fuels and a secondary advantage of generating no byproduct in use of energy, and thus attracts attention as a new energy source for enhancing environment-friendly and energy-efficient properties.
Lithium ion batteries, lithium polymer batteries, nickel cadmium batteries, nickel hydrogen batteries, nickel zinc batteries or the like are widely used as secondary batteries at the present. Such a unit secondary battery cell has an operating voltage of about 2.5V to 4.2V. Therefore, if a higher output voltage is demanded, a plurality of secondary battery cells may be connected in series to configure a battery pack. In addition, according to a charge/discharge capacity demanded to the battery pack, a plurality of secondary battery cells may also be connected in parallel to configure a battery pack. Therefore, the number of secondary battery cells included in the battery pack may be various set depending on a demanded output voltage or charge/discharge capacity.
Meanwhile, if a plurality of secondary battery cells is connected in series or in parallel to configure a battery pack, the secondary battery cells included in the battery pack should be firmly connected electrically and mechanically. Therefore, a stable and economic design is required for a battery module and a battery pack in order to ensure firm connection of secondary battery cells.